Accident at Shakespeare Colliery

(Details from Folkestone Herald, 13.3.1897)

The first accident in Kent that led to the loss of life took place on
6.3.1897 at 10.55 pm. A group of 14 men hit the top bed of the Lower
Greensand with no indication of water ingress. A few minutes later water
shot up the shaft. Six of those working climbed up the iron rings
supporting the timber lining. The water rose 80 feet up the shaft and it
took one month before workers could pump out the shaft and recover the bodies of
those killed*. These were:

Charles
Bishop (28), Dover. Married. Left widow and 2 children. (His
brother was one of the survivors)

George
Terry (22), Dover. Single.

John
Jarvis Barrs (22), Daybrook, Nottinghamshire. Single.

The
eighth man is not named. All then men were engaged as sinkers.

The water was thought to be from land springs as no salt water was found in
the shaft.

Information kindly supplied by Briony
Sutcliffe

The additional below information was kindly
provided by Mark Frost

The inquest later revealed that the cause was No.1 pit. This had been
abandoned and left to fill with water (in excess of 1000 ft). No 2 pit was dug
fairly close by and when it got to a certain depth the intervening wall between
1 and 2 gave way due to the pressure of the water in No.1, releasing the water
to flood No. 2. This forced Burr's companies to use concrete 'tubbing' on
all pit shafts to prevent their collapse. These huge rings can be seen in
stacks on many of the photos of Shakespeare Colliery. Incidentally because
it took 16 years to raise coal from Shakespeare, a lot of people claimed Burr
had 'salted' the mine when he produced 1000 tons in 1912. This first and
only commercial load was sold to Leney's brewery in Dover who then briefly
advertised their beer as 'brewed with Kent Coal'.

Footnote: the burial register
for SS Peter & Paul, Charlton, records the following for 15th April 1897: